TK-421, Do You Copy?
by Barbara Fett
Summary: Star Wars/Digimon. Another of my little one-shots. Two characters switch bodies and have to deal with it.


A/N: In the Digimon timeline, this takes place in 01, after all the crests have been found but before Tai goes back to the real world.  In the Star Wars timeline, of course, this takes place during ANH.

I personally believe that _some _stormtroopers are clones, but TK-421 is not.

TK-421 was happy to have a change in his daily routine.  Things were usually quiet on the huge space station known as the Death Star, but today, an abandoned ship had been found and taken in for investigation.  TK-421 had been assigned to a security post outside the entrance to the ship.  Standing there, blaster rifle in hand, he heard someone calling from within.

"Hey down there!  Could you give us a hand with this?"

Eager to do more, TK-421 walked up the ramp into the ship, followed by the other guard.  Inside, he discovered that the ship wasn't as abandoned as they had thought.  He saw two men in civilian clothes strike out at him and his companion.  Then he blacked out.

In the Digital World, a dimension composed of digital data and dreams, seven children called the Digidestined were on their way to their next challenge when TK Takaishi, the youngest child, began to feel strange.

"Matt," TK addressed his older brother.  "Something's happening to me.  It's like something's pulling me away. . ."

Everyone stopped.  "We may be under attack," said Matt.  "Don't worry, TK, we're here for you!"

Just after Matt said that, TK felt a floating sensation.  For a moment, he couldn't see anything.  He found himself lying on a hard, metal floor in a hallway – and in quite a different body.

He sat up quickly to look at it.  It was the body of a grown man, in a black bodysuit and hard white armor with a helmet that made it hard to see anything.  TK removed this.  He almost panicked, but then a comforting thought came to him: _Digimon change bodies all the time, when they digivolve.  They don't mind, so why should I be scared?_

He saw that he was alone except for an unconscious figure in armor like his own.  Patamon hadn't been brought with him to wherever he was.  He decided to go look around and try to figure out what had happened.

TK's own body had collapsed, and Matt had caught it.  He and his friend Tai had carried into the shade of a tree, where everyone was crouched around it in a worried huddle.  Finally, it began to stir.

"TK!" said Patamon.  "You're okay?"

"What . . . what are you?" said the boy.  "Where am I?"

"Don't you remember?  I'm your partner, Patamon."

"Partner . . . what do you mean?  I must be dreaming."

"No, you're not dreaming.  We're all here together, like always, in the Digital World."

"The what?"

"Who are you and what have you done with my brother?" Matt exclaimed.

"I haven't done anything.  I am Stormtrooper TK-421 of the Imperial Army.  I was on security detail when I was assaulted.  The last thing I remember is someone hitting me, and then I woke up here.  In fact – _I'm in someone else's body._"

"Yes, apparently, you are.  It belongs to my brother TK."

"But if you're in there," said Patamon, "where's TK?"

TK found his way out of the hallway and into a huge open space.  One side of it was open, and you could see a galaxy of stars outside.  Air still stayed in, though.

There were several small groups of people in white armor standing around the room.  TK figured that the smartest thing to do would be to blend in.  Putting his helmet back on, he walked up quietly and stood in the back of one of the groups.  Soon, he heard someone command the group: "Squadron atten-hut!  Forward march, hut!"

In perfect unison, the squadron began to march forward.  TK tried to copy their movements.  Just when he had gotten the hang of marching, he heard a voice coming from inside his helmet.

"TK-421, why aren't you at your post?"

TK was so surprised that he stopped.  Someone here knew his name!  Whoever it was sounded angry, though.  TK said nothing, for fear of saying the wrong thing.

The voice came again.  "TK-421, do you copy?"

TK kept quiet.  There was a click, and then silence.  _Whew!_

Unfortunately, the squadron leader had noticed that he had stopped.  The superior officer called: "Ready, halt!" The squadron came to a stop.

The leader walked to the back of the block and spoke to TK.  "What do you think you're doing, soldier?  And where's your blaster rifle?"

"Um . . . um . . ."  Exactly what _was _a blaster rifle?

"Well?  Out with it!"

"It's back there in the control room," TK said suddenly.  It sounded believable enough.

"Is it," said the squadron leader.  "Such irresponsibility.  Very well, go back and get it."

TK left, but did not go back to the ship.  Instead, he turned down a side corridor.  He wanted to get away from the squadron and see more of the place he was in.

The Digidestined and their guest, TK-421, had spent several minutes trying to figure out where TK had gone.  They had hypothesized that their companion had been transferred into the body of TK-421.  Now, the stormtrooper wanted to know more about where he was.

"This is the Digital World," said Tai.  "We've been here for a long time now, and we've had a lot of adventures.  I'm Tai, and I'm the leader of this group."

"We've been in a lot of danger, too," said Joe, "but we've survived so far.  My name is Joe."

"Did you come here from somewhere else?" said TK-421.

"Yes," said Mimi, "we came from summer camp.  Sometimes I wish I were still there, where it's almost civilized.  Oh – I'm Mimi."

"The Digital World is located inside a computer network," added Izzy.  "It was quite a ride coming here.  My name's Izzy."

"Why are you here?" TK-41 asked.

"We're here to save the Digital World from evil," said Tai.  "Whenever we find evil Digimon, our partner Digimon fight them, and they use our energy to digivolve to stronger forms."

"We also have crests that stand for our special qualities," added Sora.  "For example, mine is Love, and Tai's is Courage, and Matt's is Friendship.  TK's is special – it's Hope."

TK-421 looked and saw that he was wearing a necklace like everyone else.  It bore the symbol for Hope, like a golden shooting star.  "Very interesting," he said.  "So how did you Digimon meet your partners?"

"Like most Digimon," said Agumon, "we were born on an island called File Island.  We all started to feel like we were waiting for something.  Then we found each other and started waiting together, until our partners came to us."

"Most of us are unique," added Biyomon, "but not all of us.  I had to leave my village and all my friends, but it was worth it when Sora came."

"What about you?" said Patamon.  "You said you were in the Imperial Army.  What do you do in it?"

"Not much," said TK-421.  "My own experiences in it aren't very interesting, but I can tell you about the war we're fighting if you want."

"Sure, let's hear it!" said Tai.

"The Galactic Empire is the governing body of the entire galaxy," TK-421 began.  "However, not too long ago, an insurgent group started a rebellion against it . . ."

TK was now walking alone through the corridors.  On the occasions when he did see someone else, he did his best to hide in the shadows.  When one of the small toaster-like things roving around came inquisitively up to him, he started trying to hide from them, too, but it was no use.  They didn't seem to be dangerous, but he had a feeling they were watching him.

He eventually came to a walkway with a set of controls in the middle.  Empty space extended for a long way above and below it, and there was nothing to keep you from falling off.  Nervously, he walked out to the controls.

The controls were placed in a semicircle off one side of the main walkway.  The only way to get to them was to shimmy along a narrow ledge.  TK was afraid to do it, but he felt pulled to the controls.  Taking a deep breath, he grasped the raised edges of the control panels and stepped onto the ledge.

Inch by inch, he moved around the semicircle, taking great care not to look down.  Part of the way around, he found what had been drawing him: a switch with the symbol of Hope etched at its base.

Gripping the handhold even more tightly with one gloved hand, he let go with the other and pulled the switch.  The world went dark and he felt that floating sensation again, followed by a familiar feeling of sunlight against his skin.

He opened his eyes.  He was back in his own body!  He was sitting on the ground.  All his friends were gathered around him, and Patamon was sitting on his legs.

"I'm back!" he exclaimed.  "I'm here, it's me!"

"TK!" said Matt.  "Is it really you?"

"Yes," said TK as they hugged, "and you'll never believe what happened to me!"

"What happened?"

"I woke up in a different body.  I was wearing white armor.  I looked around, and I saw that I was on a spaceship or something, and it was in outer space.  There were lots of other people wearing white armor, so I followed some of them, but then they noticed me, and I left.  I found some switches, and one of them had my crest on it, so I pulled it, and then I came back."

"Then we were right," said Matt.  "You and TK-421 _did _switch bodies.  While you were gone, a stormtrooper called TK-421 was in _your _body."

"Weird!  Maybe there's some kind of bond between us.  Is he back home now, too?"

"He must be . . . It's great to have you back.  Come on, let's go."

With that, the Digidestined returned to the normal course of their lives.

Disclaimer: All things Digimon belong to Toei, Saban, Fox, et al.  All things Star Wars belong to Lucasfilm Ltd.  No money is being made off this; I write because it's fun.  J


End file.
